Nora May French was a brilliant young poet. She yearned for recognition, but kept getting entangled with powerful men who wanted a lover more than a competitor. Carrie Sterling wanted a comfortable life as a wife. Her family was poor and her idea of a good match was someone with a stable bank account. She married George Sterling and from then on was caught up in his life which included alcohol and women.
George with Carrie’s help started the Carmel Writer’s Colony. This is where the trio met. George became infatuated with Nora and brought her to live with them in the area he was trying to people with poets and writers. This was a situation that was designed for tragedy when Nora took her own life dying in Carrie’s arms.
The author did a great deal of research to bring the story of these three people to life. She was particularly interested in Nora who was an acclaimed poet in her era, but was always overshadowed by the male poets and writers. Carrie was also a tragic figure looking for stability and being tied to a man who couldn’t give her the support she craved.
The book told a story about people I had never heard of and was interesting from that standpoint. However, I thought the author did too much invention when presenting the thoughts and feelings of the women. She wanted to make the point that women were beginning to have careers and be independent, but their lives and work were overshadowed by the men in their lives. It made the book somewhere between historical biography and historical fiction.
I received this book from Dutton for this review.
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